Take Me Under
by chawk1993
Summary: *ONE-SHOT**Set after TFA* As Kylo sits reminiscing over his failure to retrieve the Skywalker Lightsaber from Rey, his grandfather appears and tells him the true reason as to why he turned to the Dark Side, becoming Kylo's idol Darth Vader.
**A/N:** _Hi all! I know the whole Anakin appearing to Kylo thing has been done a thousand times before but I thought I would put my own spin on it._

* * *

 **Take Me Under**

* * *

Killing Han was supposed to be liberating. The man formerly known, as Ben Solo couldn't have felt more conflicted. He had killed his own father. Patricide was said to be the only form of crime that could turn someone fully to the Dark Side.

Ben had always known that his family lacked father figures. His maternal grandfather, the great Darth Vader himself had been born without a father.

Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker, Ben's mother and uncle respectively, had never even known their biological father or their biological mother. Leia, however, had been adopted by Bail Organa and his wife, Queen Breha and had been parents to her. His father's stepbrother and his wife however, had raised Luke on Anakin's home planet of Tatooine.

When it came to Ben's upbringing, Leia and Han had adored their son as had Luke, who had doted on his young nephew. Despite the boy having been born with the last name of Solo, Ben was very much a Skywalker. He was Force Sensitive like his mother and uncle before him and like his grandfather, was very powerful with Force.

It was known from the moment Ben had been born that he would develop his grandfather's temper. However, his temper was even worse then Vader's had been. While the former Sith Lord had been strong with the Force, his grandson was known to throw things telekinetically across the room whenever he entered a fit of rage. This had worried Leia. She had asked her brother to take Ben as his apprentice in a desperate attempt to get him to control his Force abilities. This had failed and had resulted in the mysterious figure known as Snoke, converting him to the Dark Side.

* * *

As he tended to his wounds from his fight with the girl he knew only as Rey, Ben, known to all as Kylo Ren, sat on his bed in his chambers on some star destroyer that had rescued him after Starkiller Base had been destroyed.

He couldn't believe that some wannabe had bested him with the lightsaber that was rightfully his. He might have been born as a Solo but he was very much a Skywalker. His mother and uncle had often said that when he had been growing up.

" _Ben."_

Kylo looked around. He thought he had heard his former name being called. He shook his head, dismissing it. He was glad that the First Order hadn't abandoned his grandfather's mangled looking helmet. He idolised the mess of a mask as if it were a god.

"Ben."

The Knight of Ren looked up to see a flickering blue light beginning to blink to life. He watched almost curiously as the light started to take the form of a human.

Finallyy, the figure appeared in full. There was no doubt that this being was a Force Ghost. A handsome young man, several years younger then Kylo himself with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. Eyes, that were very similar to that of his uncle.

"Who are you?" Kylo said in a faint whisper.

"I am your grandfather." The gGhost said.

"Impossible," said Kylo with a dismissive wave of his hand. "My grandfather was Darth Vader."

The Force Ghost offered the wounded man a faint smirk. "I _am_ Darth Vader. My name is Anakin Skywalker. You do not see me as I once was. I was once like you, a Jedi Knight who was known all over the galaxy for my heroics. You," he pointed. "My grandson, are not honouring what your uncle has been trying to re-establish."

Kylo froze, his eyes flying wide. It hurt to move his face due to the slashed scar that now ran at an angle down his face. "I am trying to finish what you started a generation earlier, grandfather. To eradicate the Jedi once and for all!"

"That was not my mission, Ben. When I was Darth Vader, I only made people feel fear. That was not what I intended to do with my life."

Kylo eyed his grandfather, his head tilted to the side like an animal listening to its master.

Anakin continued. "All I wanted was power to save those I loved. When I lost your grandmother, I knew I had nothing to live for so I ended up doing everything the Emperor required of me."

Kylo had heard these stories before from his parents and uncle but never once had he imagined they were true. He had figured that they were just fables to get him to listen to reason.

"I ruined my own life and those all those I cared for were taken from me. You had a good life, Ben. You had a loving family who were willing to support you and what do you do? You destroy your uncle's hopes of reviving the one thing I was and I destroyed. All he wanted was to resurrect hope in the Skywalker family name."

"I am not a Skywalker," Ben said, gritting his teeth and holding back a snarl. "I am a Solo but I am not even that. I _hated_ my father."

"Your parents are not the definition of who you are, Ben." Anakin said, attempting to be gentle spoken.

"I wasn't there for your mother when she was growing up. I didn't even know she existed or that she was my daughter until I felt Luke's bond with her through the Force."

Kylo hissed at his grandfather's mention of his uncle. "Luke. Ha! What a joke."

Anakin couldn't believe this man was the same kid that he had watched from the netherworld of the Force running around the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon as a child with Chewbacca chasing after him. What had been done to him tso change him into this cold-hearted Darth Vader wannabe?

"Ben." Anakin sat down beside his grandson. "I know what you are going through. For a long time, I hated a lot of people. I hated the Tusken Raiders for killing my mother. I hated the Hutts for enslaving my mother and I. I even hated my own master for 'turning' your grandmother against me.."

Kylo's face fell. He recalled something he had seen on that old R2 unit that use to follow his mother and uncle around like a bad smell. He remembered a hologram recording of his grandfather in his youth (like he appeared now) Force choking a heavily pregnant woman whom Ben assumed was his grandmother. He might not have had any love for his own father but he realised, or at least should have, that his uncle's love for his grandfather had bought Anakin back from the Dark Side. He had had heard the story so many times over the years that he had just thought it was some hippy-dippy crap to get him to behave.

"I'm going to tell you a story," Anakin said at last. "I want you to at least listen to me."

Ben had never been a listener but for some odd reason, he found himself _wanting_ to listen to Anakin and not Vader. Without a second thought, Kylo nodded.

"Like I'm sure you're already aware, I was a celebrated Jedi that was admired by all that knew my name. My master was Obi-Wan Kenobi, whom was the closest thing to a brother that I could get. He started off as a father-figure to me after his own master, Qui-Gon Jinn died at the hands of Darth Maul."

"Who?" Ben asked.

Anakin shook his head. "Maul is a story for another day. Back to _my_ story. Obi-Wan practically raised me from the age of ten. As I got older, I became reckless and other traits I know passed onto your mother, uncle and you."

Ben blinked but said nothing.

Anakin could tell Ben was listening intently, trying to piece together what he was trying to say.

The late Jedi Knight continued his story. "During one of the final battles of the Clone Wars, Chancellor Palpatine who would eventually become the Emperor of the Galactic Empire was able to convince me to kill Count Dooku."

"THE Count Dooku?" Ben asked, recognising the name.

"If you're thinking about the former Jedi who helped with the creation of the Clone army of the Republic, yeah, you'd be right."

"I knew I shouldn't have killed an unarmed man but I did. After that, Palpatine began pulling the strings to get me to be his next apprentice."

"I do not understand something Grandfather," Ben said uncertainly. He looked over to see Anakin watching him expectantly. "What does this have to do with me and my obsession with Vader?"

Anakin offered his grandson a small smile. "Patience, my boy. All good things come to those who wait. Anyway, Obi-Wan and I returned the Chancellor safety and yadda, yadda. When I returned to Coruscant, I reunited with your grandmother who told me she was pregnant. While that may have been exciting, it was only the beginning of my downward spiral. As your grandmother and I starting planning our future as parents, I started having nightmares of your grandmother's demise in childbirth."

"That was the reason you became Vader?" Ben asked incredulously.

"Partially. Now, please, don't interrupt. I was prone to nightmares. I had them just before your great-grandmother died as well. As much as I tried to ignore them, I couldn't and ended up going back to Tatooine to find her and I failed. Anyway, I tried to prevent your grandmother's death and it ended up leading me down a _very_ dark path. It lead me to spend twenty-three years of my life in a black torture chamber that they called armour. With my wife gone and my children supposedly dead, I was alone. I had no one to confide in. Over time I built a barrier up and allowed no one in. It was weakness to be associated with anyone. In other words, you only had minions to do your bidding."

Ben was thoughtful. He really was considering returning to light side but he forced it back. No. He refused to return to a life where his mother was bound to throw him in a padded room and lock him away. He knew she hated him for killing his own father. He knew his uncle would be beside himself with guilt.

 _Good!_ He thought bitterly but kept the twisted smile from forming on his face. A part of him felt guilty for even thinking of such a thing.

"I can you are conflicted, Ben." Anakin said.

Ben stiffened. "How can you possibly know that? You're dead."

Anakin wasn't surprised by his grandson's hurtful words. "I might be dead, but I can still feel the Force. So can so many Jedi after they pass on. I use to have the same feelings. I know you might feel that the universe is against you to begin with but your family was heartbroken when you turned. You were the reason your parents separated and why your uncle was forced to hide your cousin on Jakku and go into hiding."

 _Cousin? That girl is my cousin?_ Ben was gobsmacked but again said nothing knowing it would be unwise to upset his grandfather.

"You have a choice Ben. You can choose to go back to your mother and be retrained by your uncle and become a Jedi once more or you can choose the life of coward and continue to serve Snoke's ridiculous idea of galactic conquest."

With that Anakin disappeared, leaving his grandson to his thoughts.

Ben was still conflicted. He was even more conflicted then before. His grandfather had just told him his life story and yet, Ben had convinced himself that the man he had just spoken to _wasn't_ his grandfather but some imposter who knew his grandfather's former past a little _too_ well.

Reverting back to Kylo Ren, Ben shook his head. Anakin Skywalker was an old fool. Vader had all the answers and one day, he would eventually answer Kylo's call.

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 _This is a ONE-SHOT and will NOT be updated._


End file.
